Kremlin Guide To America's Top Dissidents

The Kremlin fumed when U.S. President Barack Obama included a meeting with Russian opposition leaders on his Moscow itinerary back in July. At the time, Obama's administration was responding to criticism over its perceived abdication of the moral high ground by downplaying the role of human rights in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's critics could hardly accuse him of abandoning Kremlin commitments to human rights, since those commitments have been dubious at best. But he's gone on the offensive anyway.

Russia's de facto No. 2 plans to use a visit this month to the United States for a UN General Assembly and a G-20 summit to turn the tables, according to Itar-Tass:

"I think I should speak to dissidents. Let them tell me what problems the United States has," he told members of the Valdai international debate club on [September 15]. "That won't be bad, considering the Soviet experience."

With less than a week to go before the September 22-25 visit, Medvedev's planning team must be in overdrive.

So we'd like to do our part and suggest a few American dissidents who might fit the Kremlin's bill as the payback date approaches. (Note to Medvedev handlers: American regime-bashers come from both wings of the political spectrum, although they often sound indistinguishable.)

Noam Chomsky -- iconic linguist, lecturer, and voice of the left for decades

For: instant cachet among the beard-stroking intellectual elite of any nationAgainst: makes Marx look like a reactionary; kind of stingy with his Facebook friendships

Rush Limbaugh -- combative radio talk show host of the right

For: millions of fawning American listeners every dayAgainst: you can't get a word in edgewise

Kanye West -- rapper and record producer

Sarah Palin -- former vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor

For:close neighbor of Russia's; got on great with Pakistan's president; sees America on the verge of slipping into terminal communismAgainst: see McCain/Palin '08; sees America on the verge of slipping into terminal communism

Reverend Jeremiah Wright -- former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago who famously inveighed "God damn America!" from the pulpit

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